Monday, November 23, 2009

Curtis Council Puppeteer Rumor Finally Confirmed

Please note the attendance of City Council as you view the following video:



As you can clearly see, there is no sign of Councilmembers Vreeland and DeJarnatt as Pacifica's A-No. 1 no growth advocate John Curtis speaks at the podium. One would innocently assume that both Vreeland and DeJarnatt had excused absences from this Council meeting and that the three remaining Councilmembers constituted a quorum, thus enabling the meeting to proceed. However, this could not be further from the truth. In actuality, Councilmembers Vreeland and DeJarnatt are slumped down in their respective seats as Puppetmaster Curtis is unable to support them with his strings from behind the stage concurrent with his speaking at the podium. Of special note is that immediately upon conclusion of Mr. Curtis' anti-Peebles rant, both Vreeland and DeJarnatt reassumed their appropriate upright positions at the Council dais. 



posted by: R. Roads

14 comments:

Kathleen Rogan said...

Who is he?

Ronald McDonald said...

He's the guy responsible for 50% of the profits at the Pacific Manor McDonalds..

Mayor McCheese said...

and the other half he ate...

Jeffrey W Simons said...

I wonder if anyone has bothered to calculate the millions of dollars in lost revenue John Curtis and his disciples have cost Pacifica. I think, in all honesty, when the city council is filing for bankruptcy next year, they should write the filing on the back of the award they gave Curtis 2 years ago.

mike bell said...

Who is John Curtis?

He's a windbag who loves to hear himself talk.
He is adored by Council and everyone in Pacifica who loves poverty and welfare and hates development, progress and wealth.
He has single-handedly cost Pacifica more money and lost opportunity than all the people on Council combined.
He's a parasite who sponges off of the community.
He's a fraud.
He is Pacifica's Worst Person of the Decade.

Pacifica Truth Police said...

I do know that John Curtis (and his personal attorney Hal Bohner) cost the new police station project an additional 2 million dollars by demanding frog ponds be built under the threat of litigation. Curtis is a master of spending other people's money as well as sponging off them for sustenance.

Grimace said...

I know for a fact that instead of food stamps, Mr. Curtis receives Mickey D's Happy Meal certificates.

Lance said...

August 21, 2002


When will John bring us a good idea?

"Exactly what makes God-almighty John Curtis think he can clomp in here from Pedro Point, push his weight around, and bamboozle Pacificans into opposing Trammell Crow's concepts for the quarry.

His tactics are all too transparent. He is a huge pain in the butt, used to getting his way, and with lots of time to waste misleading Pacificans. I expect him to do his best to avoid inconvenient facts, including more letters to the editor, just as he's done in the past. Will we see some phony baloney "No on Trammell Crow" campaign committee surfacing soon? John Curtis has an energetic backup crew to do his dirty work. It's clear he intends to crush anyone who gets in his way and hoodwink the voters with his big claims and empty promises.

Well here are a few facts you won't be getting from the John Curtis and Associates propaganda machine. What you see is what you get! John Curtis and his local boosters want you to believe that they can do much better than Trammell Crow can do for Pacifica's benefit. You only have to vote against anything Curtis is against, and the world will be a better place. Do you believe that? I've got a fine bridge to sell you."

The above is simply my attempt at a parody of John Curtis's letter in last week's Tribune. That, and Nancy Hall's in the same issue, represent the opening salvo as their knees jerk in automatic opposition to whatever positive, practical plans there are to make practical use of the quarry to benefit all Pacificans. John Curtis and those who think like him have done a huge amount of damage to this city the past quarter century.

I don't pretend to know their motives. That's not for me to judge, and my suspicions are only that. I do believe John Curtis and those he's influenced have made the difference since the early 1980's between a city with a tight but livable budget and one squeezed beyond endurance. Pacifica has the reputation among good developers of being the kind of city out of which to stay.

I plan to take a good look at Trammell Crow's plan. I won't necessarily agree with it. As always, the devil is in the details. But I also don't intend to be stampeded by opponents like John Curtis using scare words like "asphalt" and "traffic" and "new houses." The words that really scare me are "stagnation", "sluggish economy", "Pacificans buying out of town", "libraries closing", "qualified staff moving on."

John Curtis misleads when he says "I deeply resent Trammell Crow dangling the vision of a new library which they don't intend to build." Trammell Crow never said they'd build a new library. I deeply resent John Curtis using that kind of false argument. If everything goes well, and TC does everything we can hope for, a piece of land will be set aside on which to build the new library. If everything goes right, money will come from state library bonds and the sale of current library properties to create the actual building, three times the size of our current two libraries combined, and at the population center of Pacifica.

Perhaps one of these days John Curtis and those who think like him will come up with an idea that will benefit Pacifica. I've been observing John and his minions for 20 years, and it hasn't happened yet. I can't wait around another 30 years hoping it will finally happen. Trammell Crow may not be ideal, but there's a good chance they've the best solution that will occur within the next century or so.


E mail Paul Azevedo at Paul@thereactor.net. Check his website at http://www.thereactor.net/.




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Jim said...

Letter to the Editor
03/18/2009

PACIFICA WINS. PACIFICA LOSES.

Well it looks like Pacifica was successful in turning back the threat of another “outside” developer and sending them packing with their tails between their legs. Another round won in the war to protect everything Pacifica. In a long list of successes to prevent growth in town and preserve the status quo, local civic leaders have once again shown the way. Shown us that less is more.
So what have we won? We have won the right to trespass on private property in order to walk our dogs and enjoy the pristine views of a former rock quarry. We have won bragging rights as the most commercially backwards city in the county. We have won the opportunity to impose fees, parcel assessments, higher sewer charges, and the right to increase taxes on our populace. We have gained the opportunity to cut fire, police, recreation, and public works. We now have the right to retard growth, revitalization, and progress in Pacifica. Our children have the great fortune of knowing that as they look around town nothing will ever, ever change. They will inherit dilapidated buildings, crippled retail, closed shops, and the right to work and shop over the hill. They will be given the opportunity to perpetuate the fantasy of Palmetto Avenue. They will learn to beg. Beg from the feds, the state, county, anyone that may be able to fund a grant for Pacifica. They will learn that any tactic, propaganda, innuendo, claim is fair in the fight against evil developers. Morality and honesty play no part in the battle against those that would build.

We have won the right to shape our own destiny. Our visionaries have the opportunity to step to the plate, as they have often promised, and create a sustainable Pacifica. John Curtis, Nancy Hall, Dinah Verby, Peter Loeb, Todd Bray, Karen Rosenstein, Robine Runneals, Eileen Carey, Noel Blincoe, Fred Howard, Ken Restivo, Josh Gordon, Pete Shoemaker, Laurie Goldberg, now is the time to show us the way. Peebles Corp has been vanquished. The quarry is available once again. You are free to design away. You have assured us that you know what is best for us. Please go forward and prosper. A park, a trail, a nature preserve. Perhaps you could get a grant and buy this pristine property for us. You have always insisted that you care for the vitality of Pacifica. Show us minions how to maintain our basic services, without increasing our taxes, and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

What does Pacifica lose? We lose the opportunity to have a world class, LEED certified, sustainable community, built in a redevelopment zone. We lose the ability to generate enough income ourselves so that we don’t have to live on the dole and government largesse. We lose the future for our children and grandchildren to have a place to live, work, and shop locally. We lose choice. Choice to shop locally. Choice to work locally. Choice to drive less. Choice to limit our carbon footprint. Choice to hope to have what other cities take for granted. Libraries, civic centers, town centers, community. We lose that. We lose the voice of almost 50% of our citizens who understood the chance we had. The chance to bring something to this town that would sustain, nurture, and preserve the ambience of what is the essence of Pacifica. We lose our ability to become a real, honest to goodness community.

Pacifica wins. Pacifica loses.

Jim Wagner
Linda Mar
738.4900

KooKoo Kathleen said...

He must be at least 60 plus. He said in that video he has lived in Pacifica for 35 years, where did he come from?

Hamburglar said...

He came from the Dark Side.

Those of us at the two Pacifica McDonalds thank our lucky stars for John Curtis. WE'RE LOVIN' IT!

KooKoo Kathleen said...

LOLOLOLOL!!!! KooKoo Kathleen sure got a good laugh out of that. Krazy Kathleen I can't get her off the floor. Ooohh! This is fun!

Officer Big Mac said...

Don't tell anyone, but J-Curt let us know that he won't block any project that includes a McDonalds.

Jeffrey W Simons said...

Perhaps one of these days John Curtis and those who think like him will come up with an idea that will benefit Pacifica. I've been observing John and his minions for 20 years, and it hasn't happened yet. I can't wait around another 30 years hoping it will finally happen.

Couldn't have said it better myself.